For example, in the field of pharmaceutical applications, a preparative isolation and purification system that uses a liquid chromatography is used for the purposes of collecting samples for retaining as a library or analyzing in details various kinds of compounds obtained by means of chemosynthesis. The system disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has been known conventionally as such a preparative isolation and purification system.
In the preparative isolation and purification system disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the target components (compounds) in a sample solution are separated in time by liquid chromatography so as to be introduced into a separate trap column for every target component to be collected once. Next, a solvent (solvent for elution) is allowed to flow to each trap column to dissolve the components captured in the column for a short period of time, thereby collecting a solution containing the target components at a high concentration in a container (collection container). In this way, evaporation and dry solidification processes are performed to each solution isolated in a preparative manner to remove the solvent and collect the target components as a solid.
Patent Literature 2 discloses adding a solution containing target components dropwise in a collection container and spraying gas, such as air or nitrogen, on the dropwise solution to perform evaporation and dry solidification processes. In this preparative isolation and purification system, a solvent in the solution sprayed is evaporated in the collection container to remove the solvent and collect the target components as a powdered solid. The collection container is heated to a temperature comparable as the boiling point of a solvent or somewhat higher than that so that the temperature does not drop below the boiling point of a solvent in order to lower the temperature of the air in the collection container by the heat of vaporization at the time of evaporation of the solvent.
Collection containers are mounted on a collection container rack comprising a bottom surface member, a frame member, a container heat transfer member, and other members, to be heated. The bottom surface member is a plate-like member heated by a heater, and this surface is made of aluminum with high thermal conductivity. The frame member has a frame part in a lattice shape for storing a plurality of collection containers, and this frame is mounted on top of the bottom surface member. The bottom surface of a cup-shaped container heat transfer member made of materials with high thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, or the like, similarly to that of the bottom surface member, is fixed to the frame so as to touch the top surface of the bottom surface member, and a collection container is heated from the bottom surface and the side surface by the heat transmitted from the bottom surface member. Between the top surface of the bottom surface member and the bottom surface of the container heat transfer member, a heat transfer sheet (for example, a sheet of silicone resin subjected to a treatment that improves thermal conductivity) having elasticity is inserted to improve the transfer of heat between both members.